Full opinion text
MEMORANDUM AND ORDER WEXLER, District Judge. I. INTRODUCTION Beginning in 1981, attorney Charles Robert has filed on behalf of a number of plaintiffs a series of purportedly related actions challenging various decisions and procedures of the Secretary of the United States Department of Health and Human Services (“Secretary”) regarding the awarding and calculation of benefits under the Supplemental Security Income program (“SSI”), which Congress enacted as Title XVI of the Social Security Act, 42 U.S.C. §§ 301-1397e, as a means of providing financial assistance to aged, blind, and disabled persons whose income and resources are below certain mínimums. 42 U.S.C. §§ 1381-1383c. In a decision dated July 16, 1985 and amended July 17, 1985, then-District Judge Frank X. Altimari, inter alia, denied a motion to consolidate the actions pending at that time, dismissed in whole or in part several of the counts contained in the various complaints, and ordered that the cases were to proceed as separate actions and that those cases in which the claims of two or more plaintiffs were joined were to be severed for all purposes. On July 17, 1985 and again on December 27, 1985, Magistrate David F. Jordan ordered each of the plaintiffs to file an amended complaint consistent with Judge Altimari’s rulings. Upon Judge Altimari’s appointment to the Second Circuit Court of Appeals, these cases, which have informally come to be known as “the Ruppert cases”, were assigned to this Judge, as have been many of the additional lawsuits Robert has filed on behalf of plaintiffs assertedly aggrieved by the Secretary’s actions concerning the SSI program subsequent to Judge Altimari and Magistrate Jordan’s orders. This Judge then referred each of the Ruppert cases before him to Magistrate Jordan for a report and recommendation as to its appropriate disposition. The Court will now consider the proper resolution of those cases as to which Magistrate Jordan has issued a report and recommendation and the time which the parties had to file any objections to the Magistrate’s recommendation has elapsed. II. STATUTORY AND REGULATORY FRAMEWORK The common thread linking the Ruppert cases is the question of the plaintiffs’ entitlement to SSI or state supplementary assistance benefits. More specifically, although the fact patterns presented by each of the individual actions vary to a greater or lesser extent, a central issue common to the cases is the question of calculation of the “income” or “resources” available to the claimant. Accordingly, before turning to the parties’ arguments regarding these cases in general and the specific factual circumstances each individual case involves, the Court will briefly outline the comprehensive statutory and regulatory scheme that controls its decisions in these lawsuits. Eligibility for SSI benefits is governed by both an individual’s living situation and his available income and resources. When it established the SSI program, Congress set up different categories for eligibility based upon, among other things, whether the recipient does or does not have a spouse also eligible for SSI benefits and whether he or she lives alone or in the household of another. 42 U.S.C. §§ 1382, 1382a(a)(2); see also, e.g., 42 U.S.C. § 1382(e). The amount of benefits to which eligible individuals would otherwise be entitled, which depends upon the category into which a given individual falls, is reduced by the amount of any available income not otherwise excludable under the Social Security Act and the regulations the Secretary has promulgated under that statute. 42 U.S.C. §§ 1382(b), 1382a; 20 C.F.R. §§ 416.410-.435. The Social Security Act characterizes “income” for SSI purposes rather expansively, declaring the term to include both earned and unearned income. While the statute limits “earned income” to wages, net earnings from self-employment, certain refunds of federal income taxes, certain advance payments by employers, and remuneration received for services performed in a sheltered workshop or work activities center, 42 U.S.C. § 1382a(a)(1), it defines “unearned income” as “all other income,” including support and maintenance furnished in cash or kind, annuity, pension, retirement, or disability benefits, prizes and awards, a portion of the proceeds of any life insurance policy, gifts, support and alimony payments, and inheritances, and rents, dividends, interest, and royalties, 42 U.S.C. § 1382a(a)(2). The Secretary’s regulations describe income as “the receipt by an individual of any property or service which he can apply, either directly or by sale or conversion, to meeting his basic needs,” and state, “Income is anything you receive in cash or in kind that you can use to meet your needs for food, clothing, or shelter. In-kind income is not cash, but is actually food, clothing, or shelter, or something you can use to get one of these.” The regulations go on to specify what constitutes earned and unearned income, and set forth how “countable income” is calculated. 20 C.F.R. §§ 416.120(c)(2), 416.1102, 416.1110-.1124. The Social Security Act and regulations also exclude various items from income for SSI purposes, such as certain earned income of students, state public assistance payments, child support payments, and medical care and services. 42 U.S.C. § 1382a(b); 20 C.F.R. §§ 416.-1103, 416.1112, 416.1124. The regulations also exclude loan proceeds from income countable for SSI purposes. 20 C.F.R. § 416.1103(f). This exclusion is particularly relevant to the litigation at bar since the Secretary’s final decision in many of the Ruppert cases turned on the question of whether certain arrangements between the claimants and other persons demonstrated the existence of bona fide loans. Social Security Ruling (“SSR”) 78-26, which is binding on the Secretary and the Social Security Administration (“SSA”), defines a loan as: an advance of money from lender to borrower where borrower has to repay, with or without interest. This applies to any commercial as well as noncommercial loan (between relatives, friends or others) that is recognized as enforceable under State law. The loan agreement may be oral or written, as long as it is enforceable under State law. Where money is given and accepted on any understanding between parties, other than it is to be repaid by the receiver of the money, there is no loan involved for SSI purposes. Such money could be a gift, support payments, etc., and must be treated accordingly (i.e., as provided in rules applicable to such items). The Ruling places on claimants the burden of proving the bona fide nature of an asserted loan agreement. “Resources,” although not explicitly defined in the Social Security Act, is defined by the Secretary’s regulations to mean “cash or other liquid assets or any real or personal property that an individual (or spouse, if any) owns and could convert to cash to be used for his support and maintenance.” 20 C.F.R. §§ 416.120(c)(3), 416.-1201(a). The statute and regulations exclude from treatment as resources items such as an individual’s home, household goods, personal effects, and car, and life insurance to a certain extent. 42 U.S.C. § 1382b; 20 C.F.R. §§ 416.1210-.1237. An individual who lives with a spouse is eligible for SSI only if he possesses no more than $2,250.00 worth of includable resources, while persons who do not have such living arrangements are limited to resources of $1,150.00. 42 U.S.C. §§ 1382(a)(1)(B), (a)(2)(B); 20 C.F.R. § 416.-1205; see also 20 C.F.R. §§ 416.1240-.1244. Additionally, any transaction within two years preceding an application for SSI benefits in which a resource is given away or sold at less than fair market value shall be presumed to have been for the purpose of establishing eligibility for SSI and the resource will be included for purposes of determining SSI eligibility unless it can be established by clear and convincing evidence that the transaction was exclusively for some other purpose besides an attempt to obtain benefits. 42 U.S.C. § 1382b(c); 20 C.F.R. § 416.1246. If an individual is living in the household of another and is receiving in-kind support and maintenance from that person, the recipient’s SSI benefits may be automatically reduced by one third rather than by the actual or presumed value of such support and maintenance. 42 U.S.C. § 1382a(a)(2)(A). This “one third reduction rule” applies only if the person in whose household the recipient is living provides both food and shelter. 20 C.F.R. §§ 416.1130(c), 416.1131. The “presumed value rule” covers those individuals receiving countable in-kind support and maintenance but not falling within the scope of the one third reduction rule. Under the presumed value rule, the SSA presumes that any food, clothing, or shelter provided an SSI recipient is worth a maximum value of one third of the recipient’s benefits plus the $240.00 general income exclusion that § 1612(b) of the Social Security Act, 42 U.S.C. § 1382a(b), excludes from the countable income of all SSI applicants. This rule allows an SSI recipient with no other income to receive the same amount of benefits as an individual to whom the one third reduction rule applies. If an individual can show that the presumed value is greater than the actual value of the food, clothing, and shelter received, the actual value will be used as a basis for calculating the individual’s unearned income; if the individual does not question the use of the presumed value or if the presumed value is less than the actual value, the presumed value will be the basis. 20 C.F.R. §§ 416.1130(c), 416.1140-.1141. The Secretary’s regulations define “in-kind support and maintenance” as “any food, clothing, or shelter that is given to [an individual] or that [an individual] receive^] because someone else pays for it. Shelter includes room, rent, mortgage payments, real property taxes, heating fuel, gas, electricity, water, sewerage, and garbage collection services.” A person who pays for his shelter under a business arrangement is not considered to be receiving in-kind support and maintenance in the form of shelter. 20 C.F.R. § 416.1130(b). A “household” is defined as “a personal place of residence.” An SSI recipient is considered to be living in his own household if he or his spouse has an ownership or life estate interest in the home or is liable to the landlord for payment of any part of the rental charges, he pays at least a pro rata share of household and operating expenses, he lives in a noninstitutional care situation as defined in the regulations, or all members of the household receive public income maintenance payments. An individual is considered to be living in another person’s household, on the other hand, when none of these situations is present, a person in the household where the recipient resides provides the recipient with support and maintenance, and that person is not the recipient’s spouse, a minor child, or a parent or other person whose income can be deemed to be that of the recipient. 20 C.F.R. § 416.1132. Congress structured the Social Security Act so as to encourage states to provide supplementary assistance to recipients of federal SSI benefits. For instance, thé act provides that the Secretary will administer the supplementary assistance program of any state that enters into an appropriate agreement with the Secretary. 42 U.S.C. § 1382e; see also 20 C.F.R. §§ 416.2001-.2098. New York State has authorized its Department of Social Services to enter into such an agreement, N.Y.Soc.Serv.L. § 211, and the New York Department of Social Services and the Secretary have in fact done so. The agreement, relevant parts of which have been codified as part of the New York Social Services Law, establishes several benefit levels based upon different living arrangements, including one payment level for persons “living alone” and a lower payment level for individuals “living with others.” “Living alone” is defined as “living in a private household composed of one eligible individual or one eligible couple,” while “living with others” is declared to mean: living in a private household composed of an eligible individual or couple and at least one other person, or, with respect to any child who is not the head of a household and who is under the age of eighteen, or under the age of twenty-two if attending school, any living arrangement. N.Y.Soc.Serv.L. §§ 209(2)(a), (2)(b), (3)(a), (3)(b). It sometimes happens that an SSI recipient is paid benefits in excess of the amount to which he is entitled. The Social Security Act and the regulations promulgated under it provide that whenever the Secretary finds that an incorrect amount of benefits has been paid, he shall make the necessary adjustment or recovery through appropriate adjustments to future payments or recovery from or payment to the incorrectly paid individual. The Secretary, however, is not entitled to downward adjustment or recovery of benefits where the recipient is “without fault” and such adjustment or recovery would either “defeat the purpose” of the SSI program, “be against equity or good conscience,” or “impede efficient or effective administration” of the program due to the small amount involved. 42 U.S.C. § 1383(b); 20 C.F.R. § 416.550. Although the determination of whether an individual is without fault depends on the circumstances of a particular case, a person will be deemed to be at fault if an overpayment results from, among other things, “(a) [fjailure to furnish information which the individual knew or should have known was material; (b) [a]n incorrect statement made by the individual which he knew or should have known was incor-rect__ or (c) [t]he individual did not return a payment which he knew or could have been expected to know was incorrect.” 20 C.F.R. § 416.552. Adjustment or recovery is considered to defeat the SSI program’s purpose where an individual’s income and resources are needed for ordinary and necessary living expenses. 20 C.F.R. § 416.553. Adjustment or recovery is viewed as inequitable and contrary to good conscience when a person, in reliance on the SSI payments he received or on notice that such payments would be made, relinquished a valuable right or changed his position for the worse. 20 C.F.R. § 416.554. Administration of the SSI program is deemed impeded because of the small amount involved upon consideration of the average administrative cost of handling a particular overpayment case through the adjustment or recovery procedures. 20 C.F.R. § 416.555. The Secretary’s final decisions regarding claimants’ entitlement to SSI benefits are subject to judicial review by the federal district courts. A court must give conclusive weight to the Secretary’s findings of fact concerning a claimant’s entitlement to benefits if the findings are supported by substantial evidence on the record as a whole. 42 U.S.C. §§ 405(g), 1383(c)(3); Bastien v. Califano, 572 F.2d 908, 912 (2d Cir.1978). As interpreted by the Supreme Court, “substantial evidence” is “more than a mere scintilla. It means such relevant evidence as a reasonable mind might accept as adequate to support a conclusion.” Richardson v. Perales, 402 U.S. 389, 401, 91 S.Ct. 1420, 1427, 28 L.Ed.2d 842 (1971) (quoting Consolidated Edison Co. v. National Labor Relations Board, 305 U.S. 197, 229, 59 S.Ct. 206, 217, 83 L.Ed. 126 (1938)). A reviewing court is thus compelled to accept the Secretary’s supported findings of fact. A court, however, is not bound by the Secretary’s conclusions or interpretations of law, or an application of an incorrect legal standard. E.g., Kuebler v. Secretary of the United States Dep’t of Health and Human Services, 579 F.Supp. 1436, 1438 (E.D.N.Y.1984); Sokoloff v. Richardson, 383 F.Supp. 234, 236 (E.D.N.Y.1973); Ridgely v. Secretary of the Dep’t of Health, Education and Welfare, 345 F.Supp. 983, 988 (D.Md.1972), affirmed, 475 F.2d 1222 (4th Cir.1973). As one court noted, “Before the insulation of the substantial evidence test comes into play, it must first be determined that the facts of a particular case have been evaluated in light of correct legal standards.” Klofta v. Matthews, 418 F.Supp. 1139, 1141 (E.D.Wis.1976). Therefore, in considering the issues presented by the Ruppert cases, the Court is bound by a quite detailed and explicit set of statutory and regulatory provisions that establishes not only the criteria under which individuals’ entitlement to SSI or state supplementary assistance benefits is to be evaluated but also the essentially deferential standard that courts are to follow in considering challenges to the Secretary’s determinations. III. GENERALIZED CHALLENGES TO SECRETARY’S ACTIONS As the Court observed .above, supra p. 157, although the specific factual circumstances each of the Ruppert cases presents vary to a greater or lesser degree, the claims of the individual plaintiffs all pertain to the issue of their entitlement to SSI or state supplementary assistance benefits. The papers filed on behalf of many of the individual plaintiffs, therefore, contain not only arguments relevant to the question of whether the Secretary’s determination as to a given plaintiff’s entitlement to benefits is supported by substantial evidence, but also assertions concerning the general validity of the Secretary’s decisions regarding and procedures governing the awarding and calculation of benefits. The Court will now address some of plaintiffs’ broader challenges to the Secretary’s administration of the SSI and New York supplementary assistance programs. A. “Clandestine Policies” and “Ad Hoc” Decisionmaking The briefs filed on behalf of a number of the plaintiffs put forth the contention that, as part of a “clandestine policy” designed to deny applicants SSI benefits to which they are rightfully entitled, the Secretary, Administrative Law Judges (“ALJs”), and other SSA personnel are intentionally misapplying terms such as “household” and “loan” whose definitions are clearly set forth in the Secretary’s own regulations, failing to instruct SSI claimants as to the meaning of these terms so as to “trap” them into providing information that can be used as grounds for refusing to award the desired benefits, and using standards that have never been promulgated pursuant to the Administrative Procedure Act (“APA”), 5 U.S.C. §§ 551-59, 701-06, and that are based merely upon “ad hoc” rationale. It is true that in recent years the SSA’s administration of the various programs the Social Security Act established has not always been in conformance with the language and spirit of the statute and judicial decisions setting forth the standards that must govern determinations as to claimants’ entitlement to benefits under the act. Only recently, for instance, the Second Circuit has berated the Secretary for his apparent “Janus-faced” avowal of adherence in Social Security disability cases to the fifteen year old “treating physician rule” while consistently acting in violation of the rule. Hidalgo v. Bowen, 822 F.2d 294 (2d Cir.1987). See also Stieberger v. Bowen, 801 F.2d 29 (2d Cir.1986); Schisler v. Heckler, 787 F.2d 76 (2d Cir.1986); City of New York v. Heckler, 578 F.Supp. 1109 (E.D.N.Y.), affirmed, 742 F.2d 729 (2d Cir.1984), affirmed, 476 U.S. 467, 106 S.Ct. 2022, 90 L.Ed.2d 462 (1986); Note, Government Nonacquiescence Case in Point: Social Security Litigation, 2 Touro Law Review 197 (1986). Even if the Court were to accept plaintiffs’ claim of a clandestine policy, however, the circumstances of the Rup-pert cases would still not be such as to justify any broad-based ruling by the Court grounded upon the Secretary and SSA employees’ purportedly wrongful policy since the Court’s review of each of the cases now before it reveals no misapplications of regulations or other improprieties that cannot be rectified by consideration of the facts surrounding each individual case in light of the law and regulations and substantial evidence test that govern judicial review of SSI applicants’ claims. B. Effect of Fanning v. Heckler Many of plaintiffs’ briefs set forth the argument that Judge Altimari’s opinion in the case of Fanning v. Heckler, No. CV 84-2614, slip op. (E.D.N.Y. December 4, 1985), undermines the Secretary’s determinations in various of the Ruppert cases and controls the Court’s consideration of various of the actions now at bar. Plaintiffs further contend that the Secretary has “intentionally ignored” the holding in Fanning and failed to honor the principle of stare decisis. Fanning involved an appeal from a final decision of the Secretary that Mary Fanning, a twenty five year old woman with a history of mental illness, did not have any rental liability or a loan agreement with her parents for the support they furnished and was living in her parents’ household rather than alone for purposes of calculating SSI benefits. Upon review of the Secretary’s determination, Judge Altimari found that under the specific circumstances of the case, including the fact that Fanning had turned over her retroactive SSI checks to her father and repaid all the outstanding asserted indebtedness owed to her parents, Fanning did indeed have rental liability and should have been considered to be living in her own household for SSI purposes, and that the Secretary’s decision to the contrary was not supported by substantial evidence. Judge Altimari’s ruling in Fanning may serve to illustrate the fallacy of the Secretary’s decision in a given situation or perhaps even an act of frugality on the part of the SSA that flies in the face of the Social Security Act and the Secretary’s own regulations. Nonetheless, Fanning is by its own terms merely a judicial remedying of incorrect administrative handling of a single SSI claimant’s application for benefits. The case in no way undermines the positions the Secretary has taken in the controversies now before the Court, and his determinations in the current actions do not demonstrate any failure to comply with Judge Altimari’s decision. Fanning does not at all control the Court’s analysis of other appeals from the Secretary’s final determinations regarding the eligibility of SSI applicants for the benefits they seek, and has no binding precedential weight in subsequent SSI cases such as those the Court is now considering. Fanning, in other words, although a logical, supportable, and, in the opinion of this Judge, essentially correct resolution of a particular dispute between the Secretary and an SSI applicant, simply fails to resonate with the broader significance and implications which the Ruppert plaintiffs wish the Court now to read into the case. C. Secretary’s Administration of New York State Supplementary Assistance Program Certain of the individual Ruppert plaintiffs challenge in their papers the validity of New York State’s method of categorizing the living arrangements of SSI recipients as set forth in N.Y.Soc.Serv.Law § 209 and the Secretary’s application of these classifications in his calculations of state supplementary assistance levels pursuant to his administrative responsibilities under the agreement into which New York and the Secretary entered. Essentially, these plaintiffs contend that the categories New York and the Secretary employ are inconsistent with the Secretary’s regulations and with this Court’s decisions in Glasgold v. Secretary of Health and Human Services, 558 F.Supp. 129 (E.D.N.Y.1982), affirmed sub. nom., Rothman v. Schweiker, 706 F.2d 407 (2d Cir.) (per curiam), cert. denied, sub. nom., Guigno v. Heckler, 464 U.S. 984, 104 S.Ct. 428, 78 L.Ed.2d 362 (1983), and Ahrens v. Bowen, 646 F.Supp. 1041 (E.D.N.Y.1986). First, plaintiffs assert that the effect of the distinction made between “living alone” and “living with others” is that 20 C.F.R. § 416.2001(a) is violated. § 416.2001(a), to the extent that it is relevant to plaintiffs’ position, defines state supplementary payments as payments made “[i]n supplementation of the Federal supplemental security income benefits, i.e., as a complement to the Federal benefit amount, thereby increasing the amount of income available to the recipient to meet his needs.” 20 C.F.R. § 416.2001(a)(1). Plaintiffs claim that the categorization at issue decreases the benefits of certain SSI recipients and thereby contravenes § 416.2001(a). Plaintiffs’ argument misses the mark. The distinctions in benefit levels based on living arrangements do not decrease anyone’s SSI benefits or amount of available income. They simply provide that certain individuals will, because of New York and the Secretary’s evaluation of their relative need for income supplementation, receive less additional public support in the form of state supplementary assistance payments than others. Second, plaintiffs contend the New York state supplementary assistance program and its administration by the Secretary is at odds with 20 C.F.R. § 416.2030, which provides, in pertinent part: already determined in Termini v. Califano, 611 F.2d 367 (2d Cir.1979), that the distinction between “living alone” and “living with others” used in New York has a rational basis in the “commonsense proposition that individuals living with others usually have reduced per capita costs because many of their expenses are shared,” id. at 370, and therefore is in conformance both with § 416.2030(b) and the United States Constitution. (a) Payment level. The level of State supplementary payments may vary for each category the State elects to include in its federally administered supplement. These categorical variations of payment levels must be specified in the agreement between the Secretary and the State.... (2) Living arrangements. In addition, a State may elect no more than five variations in recognition of the different needs which result from various living arrangements. Types of living arrangements for which variations may be allowed include arrangements such as: (i) Living alone, (ii) Living with an ineligible spouse, (iii) Personal care facility, (iv) Domiciliary or congregate care facility. (b) Relationship to actual cost differences. Under the agreement, variations in State supplementary payment levels will be permitted for each living arrangement the State elects. These differences must be based on rational distinctions between both the types of living arrangements and the cost of these arrangements. Plaintiffs argue that the living arrangement variations utilized in New York im-permissibly establish six rather than the maximum five categories. However, plaintiffs' contention notwithstanding, examination of New York and the Secretary’s agreement makes apparent that the purported “sixth” category, “living in the household of others” is merely a subset of the category “living with others” much in the way living arrangements such as “family type home,” “foster care for adults,” “half-way house,” and “community residence” are sub-classifications of the two different classifications of “congregate care.” Moreover, the Second Circuit has Third, plaintiffs cite to the Court Glasgold’s holding that the agreement between New York and the Secretary and federal and state statutory schemes, when read together, require that federal rules for calculating income must be applied to computations not only of federal SSI benefits but also of state supplementary assistance payments. Plaintiffs read Glasgold as providing support for the preposition that the category “living with others” used in determinations of the level of supplementary assistance to be paid individuals must be narrowed in scope so as to parallel the federal definition of “living in the household of another” used in federal SSI determinations. Glasgold, however, concerned the proper mode for determining countable income, not individuals’ living arrangements. 20 C.F.R. § 416.2030 makes explicit that states can establish varying levels of payments based upon their own rational assessment of different needs that may result from divergent forms of living arrangements and may, within certain guidelines, decide for themselves the classifications of living arrangements to be employed. Glasgold, moreover, itself discussed in a lengthy footnote the Second Circuit’s ruling in Termini without even a hint of criticism. 558 F.Supp. at 139 n. 7. Finally, plaintiffs maintain that Judge Mishler’s decision in Ahrens somehow supports their position. Ahrens involved the issue of whether punitive damage awards should properly be included as income countable for SSI purposes. Judge Mishler found that the broad definition of income set forth in the Social Security Act and its accompanying regulations requires that punitive damages be considered countable income even though New York state law would provide otherwise. Ahrens, therefore, does not at all concern itself with categories of living arrangements and, like Glasgold, merely addresses certain questions as to the proper treatment for SSI-related purposes of a specific form of income. D. Role of State Law in Determining Existence of Valid “Loan” As the Court noted earlier in this opinion, supra p. 10, the Secretary’s decision in many of the individual Ruppert cases hinged upon his conclusion concerning whether the arrangements between the SSI claimants and other persons regarding finances and support were such as to demonstrate the existence of “loans” valid for SSI purposes. A number of the briefs filed by both plaintiffs and the Secretary, therefore, address the issue of whether an individual plaintiff’s arrangements with relatives constitute, in the phrase used throughout many of plaintiffs’ papers, “a valid debtor/creditor relationship”. The determination of whether a particular arrangement between an SSI claimant and another evidences a bona fide loan for SSI purposes necessarily depends on the specific facts presented, and the parties devote a good deal of space in the briefs to whether given facts do or do not warrant the conclusion that a SSI recipient has entered into a valid loan agreement. The parties also appear, however, to be in more general disagreement as the proper interpretation of the regulations and rulings that govern the question of whether certain monies or other goods should be excluded from countable income as proceeds of a loan. One such disputed area concerns the effect of state law on the SSA’s decisions. SSR 78-26, which the Court has previously set forth in relevant part, supra p. 158, defines a loan for SSI purposes as “an advance of money from lender to borrower where borrower has to repay, with or without interest,” and states that this definition applies equally to lender/borrower agreements whether they be commercial or noncommercial, oral or written, so long as the arrangement at issue is enforceable under the applicable state law. Under New York law, an agreement is only legally binding if there is both mutuality of agreement and mutuality of obligation, i.e., the parties involved in the transaction must each have agreed to the terms of the arrangement and taken upon themselves certain obligations they are bound to perform. See e.g., Dorman v. Cohen, 66 A.D.2d 411, 413 N.Y.S.2d 377 (1st Dep’t 1979); Brooklyn Union Gas Co. v. Jimeniz, 82 Misc.2d 948, 371 N.Y.S.2d 289 (N.Y.C.Civ.Ct.1975). Furthermore, where a supposedly constraining promise by a party to an agreement is unduly vague, indefinite, or unspecific, or where the person making the promise is free to perform or not as he so chooses, the agreement is illusory and will not be enforced. E.g., Mocca Lounge, Inc. v. Misak, 94 A.D.2d 761, 462 N.Y.S.2d 704 (2d Dep’t 1983); Silvera v. Safra, 79 Misc.2d 919, 361 N.Y.S.2d 250 (Sup.Ct.N.Y.Co.1974); Ivor B. Clark, Inc. v. Boston Road Shopping Center, Inc., 207 N.Y.S.2d 582 (Sup.Ct.N.Y.Co.1960). An oral loan agreement is no less enforceable than one that is written, so long as it does not run afoul of the New York statute of frauds, N.Y.Gen.Oblig.L. § 5-701(a). See, e.g., Right Turn Ltd. v. Sloan, 88 A.D.2d 889, 452 N.Y.S.2d 605 (1st Dep’t 1982); Banker’s Trust Co. of Western New York v. Steenburn, 95 Misc.2d 967, 409 N.Y.S.2d 51 (Sup.Ct. Chautauqua Co.1978), affirmed, 70 A.D.2d 786, 418 N.Y.S.2d 723 (4th Dep’t 1979). Plaintiffs apparently accept the basic legitimacy of SSR 78-26’s incorporating state law to some extent into the SSA’s consideration of purported loan agreements and have not controverted the assertions the Secretary has made in his papers regarding some of the basic elements a loan need possess to be enforceable under New York law. Rather, plaintiffs rely upon New York law to call into question the Ruling’s placement of the burden of proving the bona fide nature of an asserted agreement on recipient. Plaintiffs contend that where an issue arises as to whether a transfer of cash or goods was a loan or a gift, New York law places the burden of proof upon the party seeking to claim a gift, and cite in support of their position the Southern District of New York’s statement in Rabinof v. United States, 329 F.Supp. 830, 839 (S.D.N.Y.1971) that: The law [of New York] never presumes a gift. Matter of Bolin, 136 N.Y. 177, 180, 32 N.E. 626 (1892). On a doubtful record the ruling must be against a gift. In re Grauds’ Estate, 43 N.Y.S.2d 803 (Sur.Ct., N.Y.1943). It is obvious that the burden of proof is upon [the parties claiming a gift] and that they must prove each and every element essential to establish the gift. Matter of Housman, 224 N.Y. 525, 121 N.E. 357 (1918); Matter of Kelly, 285 N.Y. 139, 150, 33 N.E.2d 62 (1941). New York law regarding burdens of proof, however, is not germane to determinations by the Secretary and SSA employees as to whether a given transaction evinces a loan for purposes of administration of the SSI program. Federal regulations and rules, not state law, define the conditions under which a transaction will be deemed a loan for SSI purposes. State law comes into play only to the extent that a federal provision explicitly declares its applicability to a given situation. The language of SSR 78-26 makes clear that state law is relevant to SSA consideration of claimed loans only insofar as enforceability of a supposed lender/borrower transaction is concerned; state law has no role in the determination of whether particular circumstances demonstrate the existence of a loan in the first place and the procedures for how this determination is to be made. E. In-Kind Support and Maintenance as Loans The Secretary has taken the position in SSI cases that the definition of a “loan” set forth in 20 C.F.R. § 416.1103(f) and SSR 78-26 does not cover situations involving the borrowing of in-kind support and maintenance such as food, clothing, and shelter but only those in which cash is lent. Various of the Ruppert plaintiffs maintain in their papers that the Secretary’s stance reflects an unduly restrictive and improper interpretation of the relevant regulation and ruling and of the Social Security Act itself, and urge the Court to adopt the Fifth Circuit’s holding in Hickman v. Bowen, 803 F.2d 1377 (5th Cir.1986), that loans for SSI purposes encompass more than just cash loans. The Secretary contends in response to plaintiffs’ assertions that Hickman was wrongly decided, and argues that the requirement that loans be made in cash rather than other goods is logically based upon the idea that it is easier to follow and verify transactions in which cash changes hands and thereby reduces the potential for abuse. In Hickman, the Fifth Circuit faced the question of whether the provision of in-kind support and maintenance could, under the proper set of factual circumstances, constitute a loan excludable from an SSI claimant’s countable income. After noting that the issue was one of first impression and that the Social Security Act’s legislative history did not shed any light on the subject, the Hickman court focused on the language of the statute and determined that Congress did not intend for a distinction to be drawn between the treatment of cash and in-kind income. The statute, the court observed, defines “income” to include both earned and unearned income, 42 U.S.C. § 1382a(a), and specifically declares unearned income to include support and maintenance whether furnished in cash or in kind. 42 U.S.C. § 1382a(a)(2)(A). The Secretary’s regulations, in the view of the Fifth Circuit, similarly fail to support what the court termed the “fine distinction” between cash and other goods. 803 F.2d at 1381-82. The Hickman court then turned its attention to the specific language of 20 C.F.R. § 416.1103(f), which reads in relevant part: Proceeds of a loan. Money you borrow or money you receive as repayment of a loan is not income.... Buying on credit is treated as though you were borrowing money and what you purchase this way is not income. The first sentence of the regulation, the court found, does not purport to exclude non-cash loans: Although most loans are money loans, the regulation neither states nor implies that other forms of lender/borrower transactions do not qualify for treatment as loans. Moreover, by addressing credit transactions, the regulation “sweeps beyond simply cash loans. Certainly, if someone purchases food or shelter on credit, and it is excluded from income, borrowing or being advanced such necessities should be treated similarly. In either case, as with a loan, the borrower is liable and must repay the lender.” 803 F.2d at 1382. In sum, the Fifth Circuit concluded, there is no legitimate difference under the Social Security Act and regulations between a situation in which an SSI recipient receives a cash loan from a friend or relative that enables her to pay for household expenses and a situation where the recipient is directly given the household benefits and agrees to pay the provider for their cash value at some point in the future. Id. This Court finds Hickman’s logic and conclusion to be convincing. Neither the Social Security Act nor the Secretary’s own regulations provide justification for the Secretary’s position that only cash transactions may qualify as loans for SSI purposes. Moreover, the Secretary’s restrictive reading of that which qualifies as a loan has an even harsher effect on the poor who comprise SSI recipients than such a narrow construction would have if applied to a program designed to aid those possessing greater economic resources: Poor SSI claimants do not live in a socioeconomic vacuum, but rather generally reside in an environment consisting primarily of other poor people; relatives and friends who might be willing to supply loans to SSI recipients, therefore, will often have more accessible to them in-kind goods such as some extra foodstuffs or clothing or a small space for the recipient to live in than the disposable cash that the Secretary has been requiring be the basis for a bona fide loan. It is true that courts generally defer to an agency’s interpretations of the statute it is empowered to administer and the regulations it may promulgate under that statute. E.g., Chevron U.S.A., Inc. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, 467 U.S. 837, 104 S.Ct. 2778, 81 L.Ed.2d 694 (1984). However, such deference “cannot be allowed to slip into a judicial inertia,” and courts must be careful not to “rubber stamp... .administrative decisions that they deem inconsistent with a statutory mandate or that frustrate the congressional policy underlying a statute.” Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms v. Federal Labor Relations Authority, 464 U.S. 89, 97, 104 S.Ct. 439, 444, 78 L.Ed.2d 195 (1983) (quoting American Ship Building Co. v. National Labor Relations Board, 380 U.S. 300, 318, 85 S.Ct. 955, 967, 13 L.Ed.2d 855 (1965), and National Labor Relations Board v. Local Union No. 103, International Association of Bridge, Structural and Ornamental Iron Workers, AFL-CIO, 434 U.S. 335, 350, 98 S.Ct. 651, 660, 54 L.Ed.2d 586 (1978)). See also 5 K. Davis, Administrative Law Treatise, ch. 29, § 29:16 (2d ed. 1984). While the SSA may be genuinely concerned with possible abuses of the SSI program, it may not reasonably or justifiably claim such concern as a basis for a policy that reduces the availability of SSI benefits in a manner that flies in the face of the language and spirit of the Social Security Act and the Secretary’s own regulations. Accordingly, the Court holds that the definition of a “loan” for SSI purposes cannot be restricted solely to cash transactions but also covers arrangements involving the borrowing of in-kind support and maintenance provided, of course, that the circumstances presented by a given SSI recipient’s situation demonstrate the existence of the other necessary elements of a valid loan. F. Effects of Jackson v. Schweiker and SSA’s “Nonacquiescence” Policy Many of the individual Ruppert plaintiffs place a good deal of reliance upon the Seventh Circuit’s decision in Jackson v. Schweiker, 683 F.2d 1076 (7th Cir.1982), that the Secretary’s treatment of the difference between the fair market rental value of SSI recipients’ housing and the rent actually paid for shelter as unearned in-kind countable income is not consistent with certain other of the Secretary’s regulations that the Seventh Circuit deemed to be more proper implementations of the Social Security Act, and that only income that is “actually available” to meet the “basic needs” of an SSI recipient and in reality increases the recipient’s “purchasing power” may be attributed to the individual. Plaintiffs seek that this Court adopt the holding and reasoning of Jackson in the context of the instant cases. Also, plaintiffs contend that, in violation of the policy set forth in SSA Interim Circular No. 185 (June 3, 1985) (“Circular No. 185” or “the Circular”) and OHA Staff Guides and Programs Digest Bulletin No. Ill — I (August 22, 1986) (“Bulletin No. III-I” or “the Bulletin”), the Secretary has refused to refer the issue of the proper treatment of certain kinds of imputed in-kind income to the SSA’s Special Policy Review Committee, and, apparently, wish the Court to enter an order requiring the Secretary to do so. As plaintiffs’ counsel should be well aware, however, the Second Circuit has already indicated, in a previous case Robert handled, that it does not find Jackson persuasive, but rather considers the holdings of other circuits that in-kind income should be includable in countable income where it constitutes “actual economic benefit” to an SSI recipient to be more sound. Rothman v. Schweiker, 706 F.2d 407, 410 (2d Cir.) (per curiam), cert. denied sub. nom., Guig-no v. Heckler, 464 U.S. 984, 104 S.Ct. 428, 78 L.Ed.2d 362 (1983) (citing Buschmann v. Schweiker, 676 F.2d 352, 355 (9th Cir.1982); Nunemaker v. Sec. HEW USA, 679 F.2d 328, 332-33 (3d Cir.1982); Usher v. Schweiker, 666 F.2d 652, 655-57 (1st Cir.1981); and Kimmes v. Harris, 647 F.2d 1028, 1033-34 (10th Cir.), cert. denied, 454 U.S. 898, 102 S.Ct. 400, 70 L.Ed.2d 214 (1981)). In the opinion of this Court, the Second Circuit’s decision in Rothman precludes it from applying Jackson to the Ruppert cases in the manner which plaintiffs desire. As for Circular No. 185 and Bulletin No. Ill — I, a close reading of these documents makes clear their irrelevancy to the cases now at bar. The SSA issued Circular No. 185 as part of a re-examination of SSA policy spurred by congressional, judicial, and public concern over the SSA’s “nonac-quiescence” in judicial constructions of the Social Security Act and its accompanying regulations. In the Circular’s introductory section, the SSA declares that the procedures the Circular establishes signify a modification of the SSA’s policy toward court decisions that are at variance with established SSA procedures. The Circular states that: A series of Social Security Rulings (SSRs) will be issued identifying circuit court decisions which are at variance with established SSA policy (i.e., the law, Regulations and SSRs) for each of the circuits and which will be considered at the Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) and Appeals Council (AC) levels. These SSRs will provide a full description of the case and an explanation of how SSA will apply the decision in the circuit. The Circular then goes on to set forth the procedures ALJs and the SSA Appeals Council should follow where SSA policy is apparently at odds with circuit court case law in the circuit in which a Social Security claimant resides. The Circular notes that an SSA Special Policy Review Committee will review agency decisions where a conflict appears to arise between the result called for under circuit court case law and that which SSA policy seems to warrant and decide whether a particular claimant’s application is an appropriate vehicle for relitigating the issue. See Note, supra p. 19, at 214-22 for discussion of Circular No. 185. As of August 22,1986, Bulletin No. Ill — I superceded Circular No. 185. However, besides denominating the SSRs discussed in the Circular as “Acquiescence Rulings” and clarifying the procedures to be followed regarding Acquiescence Rulings designed to be applied at all administrative levels, not just at the ALJ and Appeals Council levels, the Bulletin makes little or no substantive revisions to the Circular. Circular No. 185 and Bulletin No. Ill — I, therefore, address the matter of SSA compliance with appellate level decisions within each of the various individual circuits. Thus, contrary to plaintiffs’ contentions, Jackson, which was a class action brought on behalf of SSI applicants and recipients in the State of Indiana, is relevant for purposes of the Circular and the Bulletin that supercedes it only insofar as subsequent SSA actions taken within the jurisdiction of the Seventh Circuit are concerned. Similarly, the Second Circuit’s decision in Rothman, if it is in any way in conflict with SSA policy, is material under the procedures set forth in Circular No. 185 and Bulletin No. Ill — I only to the extent that the SSA’s functioning within the Second Circuit is implicated. Nothing contained in the two SSA documents addresses itself to the question of the most appropriate approach the SSA should take where two or more circuits take different or even irreconcilable views as to the legitimacy of certain aspects of the Secretary’s administration of the programs established by the Social Security Act. Plaintiffs’ reading of SSA policy notwithstanding, it is manifest that Circular No. 185 and Bulletin No. Ill — I concern themselves solely with the issue of SSA acquiescence or nonacquiescence with adverse circuit court rulings within the circuit; the documents do not at all speak to the problem of inter-circuit differences of interpretation and the proper SSA response. Plaintiffs’ assertion that the Circular and the Bulletin establish a Special Policy Review Committee for the purpose of making policy decisions regarding the SSA’s response to disparate decisions by different circuit courts of appeals is, quite simply, inaccurate. IV. ISSUES INVOLVING PLAINTIFFS’ COMPETENCY AND ROLE OF NEW YORK STATE IN LITIGATION A. Necessity for Appointment of Guardians Ad Litem In a number of the report and recommendations he has prepared, Magistrate Jordan has raised questions regarding individual plaintiffs’ mental competency. In certain of the cases, the Magistrate has ordered that a guardian ad litem be appointed to protect the plaintiff’s interests, then proceeded to issue a report and recommendation suggesting an appropriate disposition of the case after someone stepped forward to act in a guardianship capacity. In two of the cases, where no such person could be found, Magistrate Jordan recommended that the individual plaintiffs’ actions be dismissed without prejudice until persons willing and able to act as guardians ad litem for these plaintiffs could be located In two other cases, the Magistrate took note of the litigants’ “marginal” competency, but did not order that guardians ad litem be appointed. Plaintiffs’ counsel’s position concerning the necessity of the appointment of guardians ad litem has been somewhat inconsistent. In some of the cases, he has filed on behalf of his clients letters and affidavits objecting to Magistrate Jordan’s ordering that a guardian ad litem be appointed. In the cases involving litigants whom the Magistrate described as “marginally” competent, on the other hand, plaintiffs’ counsel himself has suggested the appointment of such guardians. Additionally, plaintiffs’ counsel has proposed that, if the Court is of the opinion that the appointment of guardians ad litem is indeed necessary for certain plaintiffs who have so far been unable to obtain such representatives, New York State Department of Social Services Commissioner Cesar Perales (“State Commissioner”) or a designee of the State Commissioner should be required to act in such a capacity given New York State’s duty to protect its citizens in a parens patriae role. The State Commissioner has registered strong objections to plaintiffs’ counsel’s suggestion. Fed.R.Civ.P. 17(c) gives district courts the authority to “appoint a guardian ad litem for an infant or incompetent person not otherwise represented in an action or .... make such other order as it deems proper for the protection of the infant or incompetent person.” The appointment of such a guardian ad litem is not mandatory; rather, a court may in its discretion decide that the circumstances surrounding given litigation indicate that some other form of protection of an incompetent’s interests would be more appropriate or that appointment of a guardian is simply unnecessary. E.g., Foe v. Vanderhoof, 389 F.Supp. 947 (D.Colo.1975); United States v. Noble, 269 F.Supp. 814 (E.D.N.Y.1967). The Court finds that, in the context of the cases now at bar, appointment of guardians ad litem for various of the plaintiffs is not warranted. Charles Robert has for a number of years vigorously pursued the legal remedies available to the plaintiffs in the Ruppert cases and other litigants seeking benefits under the Social Security Act and, for the most part, has capably protected the legal interests of numerous of society’s more unfortunate members, both competent and incompetent. The need for the oversight of litigation by a guardian ad litem is far more pressing where, unlike the situation the Ruppert cases present, an incompetent becomes involved in litigation without representation or his purported representative’s interests actually or potentially conflict with those of the party himself. See, e.g., Matter of Chicago Rock Island and Pacific Railroad Co., 788 F.2d 1280 (7th Cir.1986); cf. Metropolitan Life Insurance Co. v. Harris, 446 F.Supp. 936 (E.D.Wis.1978) (guardian ad litem appointed for two unrepresented minors in life insurance policy inter-pleader action). Moreover, it cannot reasonably be said that representation by an attorney is insufficient protection of an incompetent party's interests given that the state courts of New York have appointed litigants’ lawyers to serve the dual function of legal counsel and guardian ad litem in the same case. E.g., Reton v. Kirby, 88 A.D.2d 979, 451 N.Y.S.2d 795 (2d Dep’t 1982) (attorney appointed guardian ad li-tem for senile litigant he was representing). Additionally, the appointment of guardians ad litem at this stage in this litigation would serve little purpose. The Ruppert cases are before the Court essentially for review of administrative decisions and rulings regarding certain legal issues. The individual plaintiffs have nothing to lose by pursuing their legal actions, and settlement of the disputes does not appear at all likely. It is not clear, therefore, what exactly the appointment of guardians to oversee any remaining stages of plaintiffs’ lawsuits would accomplish, assuming that persons to act in such a capacity could even be obtained. Cf. In re Tyler, 49 Misc.2d 510, 267 N.Y.S.2d 457 (Sup.Ct.N.Y.Co.1966) (declining to appoint guardian ad litem where appointment unnecessary and it would be difficult to obtain such a guardian). Furthermore, court appointed guardians ad litem are entitled to fees for their services, which, if a party is successful in his suit, are usually paid out of the amount recovered or taxed as costs against the party’s adversary, 6 C. Wright & A. Miller, Federal Practice and Procedure § 1570 (1971), and federal district courts have an obligation to reduce the costs of litigation by avoiding the unnecessary appointment of guardians ad litem, Noble, 269 F.Supp. 814; cf. In re Becan, 26 A.D.2d 44, 270 N.Y.S.2d 923 (1st Dep’t 1966) (where appointment of guardian ad litem is unnecessary, it is improper to burden incompetent’s estate with expenses incidental to such appointment). Accordingly, the Court will allow plaintiffs’ cases to proceed without requiring representation by guardians ad litem, be they private persons or individuals acting on behalf of the State of New York in its parens patriae role. The guardian ad li-tem appointed by Magistrate Jordan in several of the cases is hereby discharged of her duties but, if she deems it appropriate, may petition the Court for a reasonable fee for her services within twenty days of the entry of this decision. Counsel for plaintiffs shall supply the appointed guardian ad litem with a copy of the decision immediately upon its receipt. B. Joinder of State Commissioner as “Involuntary Plaintiff’ In addition to seeking that the Court appoint the State Commissioner or his des-ignee guardian ad litem for any plaintiffs the court might find in need of such a representative, plaintiffs’ counsel has sought to ally New York State with plaintiffs’ interests by moving the Court for an order joining the State Commissioner as an “involuntary plaintiff” in the Aaron Green case, No. CV 86-2084, pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 19. Rule 19, entitled “Joinder of Persons Needed for Just Adjudication ”, reads, in relevant part, “(a) Persons to be Joined if Feasible.... If [a] person should join as a plaintiff but refuses to do so, the person may be made a defendant, or, in a proper case, an involuntary plaintiff.” Rule 19(a)’s involuntary plaintiff device, however, is not properly available to plaintiff Aaron Green. The case law makes clear that the involuntary plaintiff procedure may come into play only if the party sought to be joined is not subject to the Court’s jurisdiction. If valid service is possible, the party should be served as a defendant and the Court will later realign the parties as may be necessary. Independent Wireless Telegraph Co. v. Radio Corp. of America, 269 U.S. 459, 468, 46 S.Ct. 166, 169, 70 L.Ed. 357 (1926); Cilco, Inc. v. Copeland Intralenses, Inc., 614 F.Supp. 431, 433 n. 2 (S.D.N.Y.1985). The State Commissioner is clearly within the jurisdiction of this Court and could have been joined as a defendant to Green’s lawsuit. Furthermore, it should be noted that many of the plaintiffs in these actions originally named the State Commissioner (or his predecessor) as a defendant in their complaints. Judge Altimari dismissed plaintiffs’ claims against the State Commissioner in his July 16, 1985 decision but granted plaintiff Hill leave to file a second amended complaint setting forth one of Hill’s claims against the State Commissioner and the Commissioner of the Suffolk County Department of Social Services (“Suffolk Commissioner”) with greater specificity. Hill eventually filed an amended complaint again naming the State Commissioner and Suffolk Commissioner as defendants, and plaintiffs Edward and Rose Faicco, whose case is not covered by Judge Altimari’s decision, also designate the State Commissioner as a defendant. Plaintiffs’ counsel has asserted that each of the Rup-pert cases is “related” and that each should be assigned to and decided by a single Judge of this Court. In accordance with counsel’s assessment of the connection between the numerous cases he has filed, the various Judges of the Court have, on the whole, agreed to have any of the allegedly related actions pending before them reassigned to this Judge. It would appear more than somewhat incongruous if, after this Court entered an order dismissing the State Commissioner as a defendant in many of these purportedly related lawsuits, and while it had before it two individual Ruppert cases that still contain claims against the State Commissioner, the Court were to order the State Commissioner joined as a plaintiff in one of the actions. Plaintiff Aaron Green’s motion for join-der of the State Commissioner as an involuntary plaintiff must therefore be denied. C. Plaintiff Hill’s Claim Against State Commissioner Plaintiff Hill’s second amended complaint contains not only a claim against the Secretary concerning his allegedly improper actions in handling plaintiff’s SSI applications, but also an assertion that the State Commissioner and Suffolk Commissioner violated 42 U.S.C. § 1396a(a), which concerns the contents of state plans for medical assistance, by improperly computing Hill’s income for purposes of the granting of Medicaid benefits. The Medicaid program, which Congress established under Title XIX of the Social Security Act, 42 U.S.C. §§ 1396-1396s, as a means of providing medical care and services to aged, blind, or disabled persons whose income and resources are insufficient to meet the costs of necessary medical services, is administered by participating states under approved state plans that must comply with all applicable federal laws and regulations governing eligibility for and payment of Medicaid benefits. The State Commissioner moved for judgment on the pleadings and, after consideration of the State Commissioner’s motion and Hill’s opposition to it, Magistrate Jordan issued a report and recommendation concluding that plaintiff’s action against the State Commissioner should be dismissed for failure to state any federally cognizable cause of action. Report and Recommendation to Judge Wexler in Hill, No. CV 84-0361, slip op. (E.D.N.Y. October 16, 1986). The Court agrees with Magistrate Jordan’s conclusion that plaintiff’s case should be dismissed as against the State Commissioner, but for different reasons than those upon which the Magistrate relied. The Eleventh Amendment to the United States Constitution reads, “The Judicial Power of the United States shall not be construed to extend to any suit in law or equity, commenced or prosecuted against one of the United States by citizens of another State, or by Citizens or Subjects of any Foreign State.” U.S. CONST. amend. XI. The United States Supreme Court has' interpreted the language of the Amendment as barring not only lawsuits brought against a state by citizens of other states, but also suits brought by a state’s own citizens. E.g., Edelman v. Jordan, 415 U.S. 651, 94 S.Ct. 1347, 39 L.Ed.2d 662 (1974); Employees v. Department of Health and Welfare, 411 U.S. 279, 93 S.Ct. 1614, 36 L.Ed.2d 251 (1973); Hans v. Louisiana, 134 U.S. 1, 10 S.Ct. 504, 33 L.Ed. 842 (1890). The Eleventh Amendment prohibits not only litigation brought against a state in its own name, but also that brought against state officials insofar as the relief sought entails a monetary award out of state funds. See, e.g., Edelman, 415 U.S. 651, 94 S.Ct. 1347, 39 L.Ed.2d 662. The Amendment, however, limits federal court jurisdiction only over lawsuits against states, not over actions naming as defendants counties or other local governmental entities. E.g., Mt. Healthy City School District Board of Education v. Doyle, 429 U.S. 274, 97 S.Ct. 568, 50 L.Ed.2d 471 (1977); Lincoln County v. Luning, 133 U.S. 529, 10 S.Ct. 363, 33 L.Ed. 766 (1890); see also Monell v. Department of Social Services of the City of New York, 436 U.S. 658, 98 S.Ct. 2018, 56 L.Ed.2d 611 (1978) (Eleventh Amendment does not bar § 1983 suits against municipalities and other local governmental entities). Hill’s second amen